And now for something completely different….

  This project has been stewing for a couple years.   Sometimes it takes that long to fully come to terms with all the details and background on special builds, before taking the plunge.  There is a history for these kinds of instruments and their design that I have been slowly getting to know.  Part of the joy of such a build is the feeling of connection to the past and an understanding of music and sound from that era.  The modern guitar and the demands for the Luthier are worlds apart from these early guitars. Here is the headstock for a Panormo, the distinctive shape spells...

Read more...

Profiling necks

I am currently at the point of carving out the necks on this batch of guitars.  While most of it is done by hand and eye using bladed tools and rasps and sand paper, one section is done using a machine called and overhead router.  It is a large router that I can feed the neck into to create the desired roughed out profile.   Here is the neck after machining.  The purpose is really to remove bulk in an accurate manner, to help with smoothing and reduce a little labour.  It is a little stressful as I need to feed the entire guitar into the machine due to using a Spanish construction...

Read more...